


Losing Track

by Likeitmatters



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Trains, security guard haught, student waverly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-18
Updated: 2018-10-18
Packaged: 2019-08-03 20:22:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16332833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Likeitmatters/pseuds/Likeitmatters
Summary: A brunette student and redheaded security guard both find themselves in the city looking for fresh starts.  A chance encounter eventually leads to the two perhaps finding that new start together.





	Losing Track

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DarkWiccan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkWiccan/gifts).



> So, I asked for prompt ideas between my Heart series parts and AO3 made me take it down. I read a few of them but DarkWiccan's single word prompt idea: 'train' had me off and running. Let me know what you think about it!

She’s been in the city for only a week but already she’s wondering if she’s made the right decision. She’d yearned for a clean break, surprised when she got it, and it left her floundering for a full month. She’d been prepared for explanations, declarations, begging to go to couple’s therapy. Instead she went from being part of a dream couple with an enviable two-story walk up one day, to single, jobless and homeless the next.

 

She couch surfed for a couple of weeks feeling sorry for herself until her brother kicked at her feet one late morning and told her to get off her ass and do something about it.

 

So she took what little she’d insisted on taking and moved to another city across the country. She decided she didn’t want to continue in her old line of work (which would always remind her of her ex) and finally following her dream, she applied for the police academy. She took on a part-time job as a security guard to make ends meet before the academy started up in six months.

 

She’s in danger of being late her first day however as she opens her phone to look at the address once again, feeling hopeless and somewhat dumb.

 

She’s used mass transportation for years, but the train schedule she’s staring at makes her feel like a kindergartner trying to read complex code.

 

She puts a finger up on the kiosk, trying to find a particular stop when she’s bumped into by someone hurrying to catch the train that has just stopped. She’s instantly irritated until she sees the woman has a university book bag strapped across her chest and she looks decidedly student-like with a messy bun, no make up, large dark frame glasses currently being pushed up absently by a slender finger as she pushes through the throng of people trying to exit.

 

She abandons the train schedule graph, stuffing her phone in her pocket and following the woman, desperately deducing they must be going to the same place.

 

She has to wait for a few more people to exit and then she’s stepping across the threshold just as the doors slide closed. She searches around for the brunette, but she’s seemed to have disappeared into the sea of commuters hustling to find a seat or something to lean on or hold on to before the train lurches on.

 

…

 

 

She hurriedly finishes her toast and tea and scurries down the hallway to grab her shoes and take her aunt her breakfast before she leaves.

 

“You staying late to study?” The older, frail woman asks as she gratefully takes the breakfast tray from her niece.

 

“I am, but Cecil will be in this afternoon.” The brunette smiles warmly, bending down to kiss her aunt on the forehead. “Remember, Bernard is across the hall should you need anything before Cecil or I get home!” She calls over her shoulder as she grabs her shoes, pulling them on as she yanks her book bag off the hook and stuffs her keys into her pocket.

 

She’s still getting used to the bustle and noise of the city, but so far she loves it with its offer of anonymity and the plethora of things to do. She’s always adding things to her ‘to do’ list and once she’s done with her degree and has a well-paying job, she’ll start knocking those things off her list. Until then, she’s content to have her days and nights filled with taking care of her aunt, working at the neighborhood bar down the block and attending university classes.

 

Which she is realizing with every step that she’s going to be late to. She begins to jog to the metro station, checking her watch every thirty seconds. She pulls out her metro card on the run, having to slide it through twice in her haste.

 

She glides down the stairs and onto the platform right as her train pulls up. She puts her head down and barrels through the crowd, offering several sorries as she weaves in and out of commuters, using her smaller stature to duck under shoulders and elbows.

 

She slows to wait for the exiting passengers but still manages to run into a tall redhead woman wearing a uniform who seems to be lost, the way she’s standing and staring at the map on the kiosk.

 

“Sorry”, she throws over her shoulder, absently hoping the woman figures it out. She really would have stopped had she had the time.

 

She makes her way to the back of the train car as is her habit and luckily finds a window seat that she has to climb over an Indian man yelling into his phone in Hindu to get to. As the train pulls away she notes the tall redhead woman is no longer at the kiosk.

 

…

 

The redhead steps off the train relieved to have figured out where her stop was despite losing the brunette. She looks around at the other commuters, spotting the messy bun and book bag running up the stairs. She has half a mind to run after her and tell her how she unwittingly helped her by bumping into her, but doesn’t want to risk being late to her first day.

 

She makes her way up the stairs, now tasked with the mission of finding the security office for the university, which she hopes is much less daunting.

 

…

 

 

The brunette lets out a jaw-cracking yawn as she pulls at the tie holding her hair up. She lets out a little groan of relief as she runs her fingers through her hair at first to give her scalp a good scratch and then to get it to lie down. The train is much less crowded this time of night and she settles against the window, peering around the train car until her eyes catch on the redhead she saw on the platform that morning.

 

She’s slightly slumped in one of the aisle seats facing her, chin almost touching her chest, perhaps asleep or just resting her eyes. Her uniform jacket and hat are in the seat next to her and her uniform shirt has been unbuttoned at the top, her black necktie loose and a bit crooked. She recognizes the logo on the shirt as the security firm that the university contracts with and realizes she must work there. Her eyes move up to her face but she can’t really see it well but she can tell she’s got a strong jaw and straight, refined nose.

 

She spends the rest of the train ride home wondering what her story is, where she came from, how did she come to be a security guard?

 

Before she knows it, the train jerks to a stop. She waits a second to make sure the redhead wakes, assuming she’s getting off the same stop where she saw her this morning. When she sees her head pop up and then grab her things, the brunette gives a little smile to herself and exits the train. When she steps out to the platform she looks for the redhead, but she’s already heading up the stairs opposite the direction she’s going in. She wonders if she’ll see her again.

 

 

…

 

 

The redhead wakes in a panic when she feels the train pull to an abrupt stop. She looks around wildly, horrified she might have missed her stop. She looks up at the digital display and sighs with relief when she sees she’s at the right stop. She gathers her jacket, hat and lunch bag and slips out of the seat, eyes bleary as she heads up the metro stairs to her tiny apartment.

 

…

 

The brunette rolls her eyes as she’s beckoned to the end of the bar by a small group of rowdy young men. She pulls a pitcher of beer in anticipation of what they’ll be asking for and sure enough, the blonde with the boyish face and handsome grin winks at her.

 

“You wanna come over to my place after your shift?” He asks with a mix of arrogance and hopefulness. In a city this big, surely she can do better than this guy she’s been seeing on and off again.

 

“Sorry, my aunt needs me early in the morning.” She says, mustering up a regretful look.

 

“Oh, well, I was only thinking for a couple hours.” He replies with a crooked grin.

 

 _More like a couple minutes_ , echoes in her head and she bites off a smile.

 

“Not tonight, Champ.” She shrugs and moves on, not caring to hear him ask again.

 

She surveys the bar, looking for anyone who looks like they need another when she sees a flash of red hair, her senses immediately recognizing it as the redhead security guard she’s been watching on the train the last couple of weeks.

 

She tightens her lips across her teeth in disappointment as she loses her in the crowd, even though she stood taller than most in there. She surmises she has gone either to the restroom or to where the pool tables are. She spends the rest of her shift looking for her, hoping she comes up to the bar, but she never does.

 

…

 

 

The redhead smiles when she sees her old friend from college, already set up at a pool table. She immediately gathers him up into a hug, eyes bright.

 

“Xavier, it’s so good to see you!” She says and then they launch into what they’ve been doing the last couple of years since they’ve seen each other. When she talks about the break up she realizes it doesn’t hurt as much as it first did, but she does miss her old life. She brightens though when she tells him about the police academy.

 

“You’ve finally gone and done it though. Proud of you, Red.” Xavier tells her with a brilliant smile. She grins and nods, proud of herself too.

 

“Rounds are on me tonight.” He announces and excuses himself, heading to the bar, already knowing what she’ll have to drink.

 

 

…

 

 

The brunette is sitting on a bench going over her study notes for her Botany test with a whole ten minutes to spare before her train arrives. _Life is so much less stressful when all goes according to plan,_ she thinks to herself as she highlights a particular passage in her notes.

 

She is a planner by nature and really does revel in being punctual and prepared. It served her well when her life was violently and viscerally upended and she’d relied on the calmness well thought out plans brought to her life.

 

She’ll never be able to repay her aunt for taking her in after she lost her father and sisters. Her aunt had been a surrogate mother for her since she was little when her mother left. Now that she was left all alone, her aunt was her lifeline. She’d even offered to come live with her only niece, but the young brunette refused, telling her she had had a plan for when she was ready to move out of her small town. It wasn’t the circumstances she’d ever imagined, but when the time came after graduating, she was ready to put her plan in motion.

 

She hears the polite chime signaling the next incoming train and closes up her books, stuffing them into her book bag. When she stands she realizes she’s staring at the back of the tall redhead’s uniform jacket.

 

She almost reaches out and taps her on the shoulder, but what would she say? _“Hi, I’ve been studying you unguardedly on the train the last couple of Tuesdays and Thursdays, want to have coffee?”_

She giggles to herself at the thought. Sure, once she got a good look at the woman’s face, she’d instantly felt a spark of attraction. It carried over when she had seen the woman offer her seat up on the train almost every time to anyone decidedly older or younger than she. She nearly swooned when one morning a woman and her toddler son had barely made the train and the redhead instantly shot out of her seat to offer it to them, even going as far as standing in front of them as a human shield when the train became so crowded people were pushing into the seated passengers.

 

Everything about her just exuded chivalry and warmth and the brunette wondered what it would be like to be on the direct, intimate receiving end of that kind of character.

 

She shakes her head at the overtly romantic thoughts, vowing to stop reading those silly romance novels her aunt has all over the house.

 

…

 

 

The redhead looks around the platform when she realizes it’s Tuesday. After a couple of weeks, she’s figured out the brunette with the book bag’s schedule and always gets a little thrill at spotting her either on the platform or during their commute.

 

She’s figured out she’s earning a degree in one of the natural sciences as she’s seen her study chemistry and botany on their morning commutes and fall asleep reading ‘The Secret Life of Trees’ while they rode the last train to their stop.

 

Each Tuesday and Thursday she thinks she’ll finally take a seat next to her or weave her way to an adjacent handrail and start up a simple conversation, but she never does. Something always stops her and she’s not sure why.

 

But the interest is there. Even in her now familiar lazy bun, no make up and chunky glasses, she’s quite beautiful. A natural, easy beauty that the redhead has always been attracted to, former girlfriend notwithstanding.

 

She always has a smile for whoever sits or stands next to her, breezing in and out of small talk and when the redhead is close enough to eavesdrop on their conversations, she finds the brunette is always quick with a compliment or positive observation on current affairs.

She’s disappointed however when she doesn’t see her as she boards the train. She wonders if perhaps she’s sick or maybe her classes are cancelled.

 

She decides to move to the back of the train car, like she notices the brunette usually does if she doesn’t find an open seat immediately. She stands over an elderly man and grabs onto the handrail, mindful of his personal space.

 

“Well, you sure are tall for a woman.” He remarks in a loud, gravelly voice. The redhead just smiles and looks down at him.

 

“I’m tall for some men, too.” She chuckles.

 

“How tall ‘r’ ya?” He asks, fully engaged now.

 

“I’m 5’ 11”.” She answers proudly.

 

“I was 6’ 1”.” He responds with a wistful smile. “I miss being that tall.” He adds.

 

“It has its advantages.” The redhead agrees, putting her words into practice when she feels the train start to move, looking over other heads, face splitting into a completely unbidden grin when she sees the top of a lazy bun in a seat halfway up the train car. She frowns though when she sees a man using the handrail above her, much like she is with the old man, but the guy is nearly standing between her legs, leering down at her.

 

The redhead’s blood starts to boil when she sees the brunette trying to shrink into her seat, pulling her somewhat deeply cut blouse higher up her chest and trying to bring her legs together, but the man refuses to budge even though there’s room enough to scoot back.

 

She continues to watch, hoping the man might get off at the next stop or perhaps the brunette will get up and move or tell him to back off. When none of those things happen after two stops and the brunette continues to look more and more uncomfortable she bids the old man a good day and begins to make her way towards the middle.

 

She can see the brunette’s face clearly now and she looks extremely uncomfortable. The man still hasn’t moved an inch and when the train starts to move again, he feigns losing his balance and falls towards the brunette, his hands going dangerously close to her breasts and he’s awfully slow to right himself.

 

The redhead’s had enough and starts to make her way to him with the intent to shove him straight out the door on the next stop.

 

Next thing she knows, the brunette stands, nearly knocking him over as her eyes blaze with anger. “Sir, you need to stop leering at me and trying to grope me or I’m going to knee you in the nuts!” She shouts, loud enough for at least half the car to hear.

 

The man becomes red-faced and quickly moves away until he’s propped himself up near the exit. The redhead smiles rather proud of the brunette, but stands her ground closer to her just in case.

 

She spends the rest of the time staring down the man until he makes a hasty exit two stops before the university.

 

…

 

The brunette’s heart is hammering in her chest as the man’s hands come at her in slow motion. She’d been trying to subtly tell the man to move out of her personal space, but he wouldn’t budge and he kept trying to look down her top. She had kept giving herself a countdown, preparing herself to tell him to move, but she kept hesitating.

 

This, however is the last straw. His hands veer to her seat back over her shoulder at the last second and before he can even stand back up, she jumps out of her seat nearly knocking him over, yelling at him to back off or she’ll kick him in the nuts.

 

She’s relieved when he does exactly that, moving towards the train’s door, face nearly purple in embarrassment. _Think you can get away with openly leering at me and getting in my space, you perv,_ she thinks as she sits back down with a satisfied snarl as he presses himself to the door among disapproving murmurs.

The brunette sinks back into her seat, a bit high on the adrenaline of public confrontation and looks around to see people’s mildly concerned and shocked expressions. She’s surprised to see the redheaded security guard not more than five feet from her, staring at the man near the exit like she was going to do great bodily harm to him.

 

 _She wasn’t there before,_ the thought immediately comes to the brunette. She’d lost sight of the redhead once they all crushed into the busy train car but she knew she hadn’t been standing there all that time. She certainly would have noticed. _Where had she come from_ , she wonders. _And did she see the whole exchange?_

 

She continues to watch the security guard stare the man down the entire time he cowers near the doors and she’s convinced she had been coming to her aid when she’d finally had enough of the man. There’s no other explanation for it. She’s too far to start up a conversation with her and she’s not sure she could tear her attention away from the man, which seemed a bit extreme for what he’d been doing really. He isn’t the first man to try and cop a feel or not take ‘no’ for an answer when she just wanted to sit by herself and read or study on the train.

 

When the man finally gets off on his stop, the brunette finally leans forward and asks loud enough for the redhead to hear, “You work at the university, don’t you?”

 

…

 

The redhead relaxes when the man finally exits and she thinks to go back to her spot by the old man when she hears someone ask, “You work at the university, don’t you?”

 

She knows whom the voice belongs to before she even turns her head. “I do.” She answers with a small grin.

 

“I wanted to stop and give you directions when I literally bumped into you, but I see you’ve figured it all out.” The brunette says and then shakes her head a bit shyly at having given away how long she’s known of the redhead.

 

“And I’ve noticed we have the same Tuesday and Thursday schedules.” The redhead counters with a dimpled grin that makes the brunette’s breath catch a bit.

 

“Speaking of…” The brunette recovers as the train stops. The redhead fights the rush to bend down and pick up the brunette’s book bag, looking at her expectantly.

 

“After you…”

 

“Waverly.”

 

“Thank you…”

 

“Nicole.”

 

This time, they walk together up the metro stairs and from that point on, they never lose track of each other again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
